The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom is a very wholesome, sweet book, in the same realm of A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman. It’s written in a refreshingly straight-forward prose, and is a very short, easy read.
It follows a man who dies, goes to Heaven, and encounters five people who his life impacted in some way. They try to help explain his life; secrets are revealed, relationships are healed, forgiveness and peace obtained. That sounds like only a small step above a Hallmark movie, and while this book is definitely a family-friendly, innocent read with themes typical of a classic Disney movie, it still manages to avoid feeling saccharinely sweet and over-the-top. It didn’t come off as preachy or sanctimonious.
I appreciated the characters. They were well drawn for the shortness of the book while not wholly original. I don’t think they were supposed to be, as they seemed to be there as a good example to serve the plot. The author chose a veteran as his main character, which I thought was a very good choice to illustrate the impact of difficult, controversial decisions and healing from that trauma.
Everyone has their own idea of what Heaven looks like, and I’m not sure I totally agree with Albom on the emphasis of your earthly life when you reach Heaven, but I appreciate it as a story. Sure, you need to make an account of how you lived your life, but I always thought of Heaven as moving forward rather than dwelling on the past. And it’s more about your relationship with God rather than your relationships with other people while on Earth.
I’m glad I read it, though I’m not sure if it’ll stick with me. One of the blurbs on the back described it as a “contemporary American fable,” and I think that captures the essence of the book.
